When the time is right the time is right and lately I've had the summit bug in my system. Autumn in the high Rocky Mountains produces some of the best and most stable weather conditions for hiking and climbing, but I've had a hell of a time locating partners to get on those coveted peaks remaining on my 14ers checklist. Of the 54 tallest peaks in Colorado (at elevations of 14,000 feet or greater) most are large choss piles with little appeal for mountaineering minus their height. I embarked with the lofty goal of climbing all of them when I was 18 years of age and now a mere decade later I have about 15 peaks remaining. Many of the summits close to my home in Salida were easy day hikes and I'm now left with the formidable adversaries buried deep within the Northern and Southern San Juan Mountains as well as the highest points in the Sangre De Christo and Elk Ranges.
A brief time frame in autumn brings prolonged spells of sunny calm conditions at high altitude while the mountain passes remain open. This occurs before the first snows close them off to motorized travel. Alternately during the spring many roads are cutoff by snow and in the hottest months of July and August the monsoonal weather pattern unleashes nearly daily thunder storms leaving many of the longer hikes inaccessible. With some time off from work and a weather forecast reading "60 degrees, wind 5-10 mph and sunny at elevations of 13,000 feet and higher" for several days in a row, it boggles my mind why I can't get anyone to go on a fun 15-mile hike into the most remote corners of the state.
Weather is critical for the success of any trip, whether to the beach or to the mountains. A perfect example of this lesson comes to mind after a failed hiking attempt in May of 2011 outside of Durango. The planned expedition was a spring ski trip into Chicago Basin with peaks such as North and South Eolus, the Sunlight Spire, Windom Peak and Jupiter Peak. The basin is located within the Southern San Juan Range and require several days of hiking to reach a high camp. However, the DNRG tourist rail line, which travels from Durango to Silverton reduces the trip to a single days hike in at the cost is $100 per person. Several friends from the Vail Valley and myself booked train tickets the first weekend the rail line opened, but we made the arrangements before an ominous weather forecast appeared on the horizon.
The scenic train ride leaves from Durango early in the morning and follows the Animas River above Rockwood Box and up to the upper stretch of the river. The route is often completed as a multi-day kayak run from Silverton. We got off the train at the Needleton stop alongside another group looking to ski Chicago Basin and some rafters who would put on the river and descend to the town site of Rockwood. We arrived under sunny skies with provisions for more than five days including expedition tents, food, stoves, our skis and boots. After the sixth brutal mile of steep hiking we finally reached the first patches of snow. From there it was another two miles of skinning to camp.
Before arriving at our camp we stopped to take a water break. I was somewhat out of breath and starting to feel the altitude so at first I assumed the guy sitting without shoes or socks perched on a stump and drinking a beer was some sort of hallucination. After a quick double take I gestured at him and asked my companions if he had gotten off the train with us earlier in the day. No one had so we meandered over to what appeared to be his camp.
I don't think we ever actually exchanged names, but the gentleman in question was wearing a Chamonix Mountain Guides hat, a torn cotton T-shirt reading Silverton Jamboree 1997 and unclasped bibs rolled up to his knees. His camp consisted of a light sleeping bag, a small ski pack, his skis and a half finished 18-pack of Tecate.
Exhausted we clumsily lowered our gigantic backpacks and asked which mountain he had skied that morning. He gestured up the basin and said, "All of those peaks up there. I climbed them all a few years ago starting with Eolus, but this go I tried doing them counterclockwise from Sunlight."
He said the weather and snow had been perfect except that conditions hadn't softened up as much as he'd have liked. He then asked about the weather forecast and probed for information about a less often climbed summit called Pigeon Peak.
"Oh, there's a chance of some weather huh? I might just head out in the morning then and cut my losses," he said with an indifferent shrug.
As a backcountry ski trip our own experience could be deemed a success, however as a climbing mission we failed miserably. The sunny skies during our hike in gave way to a full day of hammering wind and then it snowed off and on consistently for the duration of our stay in Chicago Basin. After five days of camping, climbing and failed summits the only peak we made it to the top of was Eolus.
With that lesson logged I've been trying to enjoy the great weather in October, or should I Rocktober. Even when no one else is available to climb one partner who has proven herself as an eager companion is Nyx, our 18-month-old border collie. She now has several 14ers on her climbing resume, but I hope she doesn't develop the compulsive need to climb them all.
